What are the potential security risks associated with allowing users to upload images to a PHP website?

Potential security risks associated with allowing users to upload images to a PHP website include the possibility of malicious files being uploaded, which could lead to security vulnerabilities such as file inclusion attacks or code execution. To mitigate these risks, it is important to validate and sanitize user input, restrict file types to only allow safe image formats, and store uploaded files in a secure location.

// Validate and sanitize file input
if(isset($_FILES['image'])){
    $file_name = $_FILES['image']['name'];
    $file_tmp = $_FILES['image']['tmp_name'];
    $file_type = $_FILES['image']['type'];
    $file_size = $_FILES['image']['size'];

    // Restrict file types to only allow safe image formats
    $allowed_types = array('image/jpeg', 'image/png', 'image/gif');
    if(!in_array($file_type, $allowed_types)){
        die('Invalid file type. Only JPEG, PNG, and GIF files are allowed.');
    }

    // Store uploaded files in a secure location
    $upload_path = 'uploads/';
    if(move_uploaded_file($file_tmp, $upload_path . $file_name)){
        echo 'File uploaded successfully.';
    } else {
        echo 'Error uploading file.';
    }
}